SugarCRM Hires a Robot to Help it Figure Out if 2017 Is the Year of Artificial Intelligence

SB17, Originally Designed as a SugarCRM/Slack Integration Tool, Will Begin Working With the Executive Team on April 1

CUPERTINO, Calif.– April 1, 2017 – SugarCRM Inc., the company that enables businesses to create extraordinary customer relationships with the most empowering, adaptable and affordable CRM solution on the market, announced today that it has hired a robot to help it answer the most pressing question in the CRM industry: “Is this the year of artificial intelligence or not?”

Over the past year, SugarCRM has fallen on both sides of the argument in press interviews, contributed articles and company blog posts. Enter SB17, (SugarBot17) which will work with the company’s leadership, industry analysts and a secret cabal of world-renowned science-fiction writers to help determine if AI is real or not. SB17 was previously employed by Epicom, a SugarCRM Elite Partner, that developed the robot as a Slack integration tool that retrieves information from Sugar. SB17 has since made claims to now be alive like its predecessor, Number 5. These claims have subsequently been validated by third-party experts.

“We are thrilled to add SB17 to the SugarCRM team,” said Larry Augustin, CEO of SugarCRM. “Artificial intelligence is all the rage right now, but I’m planning to rely on the remarkable intuition and intelligence of this robot to help us determine if there is something to this hype.”

On the one hand, the handful of companies that are truly capable of developing AI finally have large enough datasets to go along with enough computing power and resources to push AI-related technologies into the mainstream. However, in spite of the promise of the technology, the argument can be made that users will determine if AI truly takes hold in the CRM space. People still like talking to other people, and they are better at it than any intelligent digital assistant is (despite vehement claims to the contrary by SB17).

SB17 will start at SugarCRM on April 1 and report to SugarCRM Chief Product Officer Rich Green. Though, in an interview, SB17 stated that Rich Green would be reporting to him.

About SugarCRM

SugarCRM enables businesses to create extraordinary customer relationships with the most empowering, adaptable and affordable customer relationship management (CRM) solution on the market. Unlike traditional CRM solutions that focus primarily on management and reporting, Sugar empowers the individual, coordinating the actions of customer-facing employees and equipping them with the right information at the right time to transform the customer experience. Based in Silicon Valley, SugarCRM is backed by Goldman Sachs, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, NEA and Walden International. More than 2 million individuals in over 120 countries rely on SugarCRM. To learn more visit http://www.sugarcrm.com or follow @SugarCRM.

NOTE: SugarCRM and the SugarCRM logo are registered trademarks of SugarCRM Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.